Ji Dongyang went back to the bedroom to pack. Zhou Yining walked in. He looked back at her. “Your clothes are in the closet.”

Last night, she had shed her clothes all the way from the living room to the bed. When he cleaned up, he hung them in the closet. Zhou Yining gave a small smile, opened the closet, and right in front of him, took off the black tracksuit. Her snowy, soft body was turned sideways to him, the bruises on her waist more evident than last night.

Ji Dongyang paused, stood up, walked over, and stroked her waist. Zhou Yining turned around and hugged him, raising an eyebrow. “Ji Dongyang, you have a waist fetish, don’t you?”

Her waist was soft and slender. Last night, Ji Dongyang kept gripping her waist, lingering there longer than on her chest.

Ji Dongyang frowned. “I don’t.”

Zhou Yining didn’t believe him and grinned. “I didn’t expect you to have this kind of kink. Waist fetish, blindfolds.”

She pointed to her waist. “Look, this is the evidence.”

Ji Dongyang was silent for a few seconds, looking down, unable to refute her. He pulled her to the bedside. “Sit and wait a moment.”

Zhou Yining watched him rummage through the medicine box. A moment later, he came back with a bottle of ointment. Zhou Yining laughed out loud. “Ji Dongyang, are you going to apply medicine to me every time we do it?”

Ji Dongyang’s face darkened. “I don’t have violent tendencies.”

She leaned in and kissed his lips lightly. “But you get excited. Ji Dongyang, you don’t know how strong you were last night.”

She spoke too bluntly. Ji Dongyang pursed his lips and applied the ointment directly to her waist, massaging it gently. She was only wearing a bra, leaning almost half-naked in his arms. The memory of last night was too vivid. His movements suddenly slowed, lingering on her waist. Zhou Yining felt it, her heart trembling slightly. She turned and hugged him, kissing him from his lips down to his Adam’s apple.

The next second, Ji Dongyang held her down and stood up, his voice slightly hoarse. “Put on your clothes. You should go back.”

Zhou Yining chuckled softly and obediently put on her clothes.

Back home, Zhou Yining took a bath, washing away the soreness. Staring at herself in the mirror, she closed her eyes briefly.

Alice knocked on the door outside. “Yining darling, you’ve been washing for too long. Are you okay?”

Zhou Yining tied her bathrobe. “I’m fine. Coming out soon.”

Zhou Yining packed simply, changed her clothes, and sat on her suitcase. “When are you two going back?”

Alice said, “In the next couple of days. Back to the UK.”

Before leaving, Zhou Yining turned around and hugged Zhang Hui and Alice, whispering, “Thank you. You were right. If I had indulged myself back then, I would have regretted it.”

Zhang Hui and Alice immediately understood what she meant. The year they first arrived in the UK, the three lived together. At first, their personalities didn’t mesh well, especially Zhou Yining, who was perverse and irritable, smashing things at the drop of a hat and then cleaning them up herself. Living with such a roommate was torture.

Zhou Yining moved out, stayed away for a few days, then came back. When she returned, she was in good spirits, treating them to meals and giving them gifts. She was a strange girl. This way of interacting lasted for a year. Zhang Hui and Alice gradually got used to Zhou Yining’s temperament until they saw her having an episode with their own eyes and realised she wasn’t strange; she was sick.

That year, Zhou Yining was 18, her most pathological year. At that time, she often lingered in various bars. Zhang Hui and Alice frequently saw her holding a wine glass, seducing multiple men. But her alcohol tolerance was excellent; few people could outdrink her. Perhaps subconsciously, she still wanted to save herself.

Not every man was decent. Drugging, using tricks… Zhou Yining was just a young girl after all; she couldn’t outplay them, and she had moments when she fell. Several times, Zhang Hui and Alice had to drag her away. The last time, Zhang Hui slapped her hard across the face and scolded her mercilessly: “Zhou Yining, if you keep this up, one day you’ll regret it.”

Fortunately, those few years left no absurd memories behind.

Back in H City, after resting for a night, Zhou Yining went to the set early the next morning.

Ji Dongyang had also arrived and was sitting in the restroom drinking coffee. Zhou Yining walked in and looked at A Ming. “Pour me a cup too.”

A Ming poured her a cup and left.

Zhou Yining sat in the chair next to Ji Dongyang. He glanced at her. “Don’t always sneak into my restroom from now on.”

Zhou Yining put her script on the table. “I brought my script. If anyone asks, I’ll say I came to run lines with you.”

She spoke seriously. Ji Dongyang felt a bit helpless and didn’t say anything more.

He put down his coffee cup, preparing to wait for his scene.

Zhou Yining suddenly grabbed him and looked at him. “The person who saw us last time was Lu Ling.”

Ji Dongyang looked at her too. “I know.”

Zhou Yining was stunned. “How did you know?”

Ji Dongyang: “I could tell.”

Zhou Yining was stunned for a long while. Sometimes she felt Ji Dongyang was cold and indifferent, caring little about the people and things around him. In reality, he understood better than anyone. So… had he noticed anything about her? Or suspected anything?

Ji Dongyang rubbed her head. “It’s fine. She won’t tell anyone.”

With that, he turned and went out. Zhou Yining followed behind him.

On the first day back from the break, the shooting schedule was relatively loose, and a dinner gathering was arranged for the evening.

At 5 PM, Wei Zhong called everyone to wrap up. Zhou Yining went to change. Just as she walked out, her phone rang. It was Zhou Lihui. “Ningning, you’re back, right? Have dinner with Dad tonight. We don’t have to eat at home; we can go out.”

Zhou Yining pursed her lips. “No need. I have a crew dinner tonight.”

Zhou Lihui frowned and sighed. “You didn’t stay home a single day during New Year’s. Can’t you even have a meal with your father now?”

Zhou Yining took a deep breath. “Next time, Dad.”

Hanging up the phone, Zhou Yining zoned out for a moment, remembering her childhood. Zhou Lihui had been good to her, spending time with her when he was free. But she was consistently ranked behind Zhou JiaHui. As soon as Zhou JiaHui called for him or cried, he would turn back to accompany her.

She was small then, and no one pampered her. No one taught her to be willful or to cry. Subconsciously, she felt she shouldn’t cry or make a fuss. But she was a child after all; she naturally wanted candy. She tried to imitate Zhou JiaHui’s crying to get more love, but Xia Yun shouted at her, “What are you crying for?!”

That was when Zhou Lihui wasn’t around.

When she acted spoiled and cried to Zhou Lihui, he would occasionally coax her patiently, but in the end, he would say, “Ningning, be good. Daddy is very tired.”

The dinner was in a large private room with heating. Everyone on the crew knew Zhou Yining could drink, so many people came to toast her. Zhou Yining accepted almost all of them. After a few glasses, her face began to flush, making her look even more beautiful under the soft lighting.

Ji Dongyang looked over at her. As if sensing it, Zhou Yining turned her head the next second and smiled at him.

Lu Ling took this all in, frowning slightly. Ever since she’d seen them kiss, she couldn’t help but watch them constantly. Ji Dongyang treated everyone about the same; as long as they were serious about filming, his expression would be a bit better. When Zhou Yining performed poorly, his face would darken too. You couldn’t tell at all that they were a couple.

But from that exchange of glances just now, she could still see something. She looked at Ji Dongyang. The man was steady and indifferent, eating slowly and methodically, not drinking. The noise around him seemed unable to affect him. Occasionally, when someone came to talk to him, he would look up and speak in a serious tone.

Every movement, every sentence of his made people feel he was earnest and reliable.

She used to wonder what kind of woman would be worthy of him. She looked at Zhou Yining. Zhou Yining was drinking with Yu Yuanhang, a sly look hidden in her eyes, laughing recklessly. It was obvious Zhou Yining was the type who didn’t care about consequences. She lived freely and easily. To be honest, Lu Ling was a little envious and even more jealous.

When the dinner ended, Wei Zhong said, “I let you loose tonight, but tomorrow we get serious. You haven’t forgotten your lines, have you?”

Yu Yuanhang laughed. “How could we forget? We’re reading the script every day.”

Zhou Yining smiled. She had memorised her lines long ago.

Wei Zhong nodded and smiled. “Good. Everyone, head back.”

Zhou Yining didn’t want to go back, but then she heard Wei Zhong turn and pat Ji Dongyang’s shoulder. “Dongyang, I’ll ride in your car. There’s a plot point in the script I want to discuss with you and hear your thoughts on.”

Zhou Yining, who had intended to use the opportunity to return to the hotel with Ji Dongyang, heard this, glanced at him, and turned to go home.

The next day, the crew indeed entered a tense shooting period. Zhou Yining was in good form, and with no major heavy scenes, filming went relatively smoothly.

Days passed smoothly. Lu Xiao came to visit the set and ran into Zhou Yining in the elevator. He smiled. “Miss Zhou.”

Zhou Yining smiled back. “Mr Lu, visiting again?”

Lu Xiao nodded. “Passing by, nothing much, just came to take a look.”

He looked at Zhou Yining. “By the way, I went to Zhou JiaHui’s birthday party a few days ago, but didn’t see you. You didn’t spend New Year’s at home?”

Zhou Yining glanced at him and said coolly, “That’s not my home.”

She turned and left. Only then did Lu Xiao realise he had spoken too fast and said the wrong thing. He shook his head helplessly, walked out of the elevator, and saw Ji Dongyang leaning against a cabinet reading a book. He walked up to him. “Let’s have dinner tonight.”

Ji Dongyang looked up. “Okay.”

Lu Xiao: “I ran into Zhou Yining just now and said something wrong. Should we invite her? As an apology.”

Ji Dongyang paused. “What did you say?”

“I asked her why she didn’t spend New Year’s at the Zhou home.”

Ji Dongyang frowned. After a long silence, he said in a low voice, “She spent it with me.”

Lu Xiao: “…”

He froze for a long time before realising what Ji Dongyang meant. He looked at him sharply. “Holy sht!*”

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